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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28270188">Little Lumberjack</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/myracingthoughts/pseuds/myracingthoughts'>myracingthoughts</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hallmark Holiday Movie Bingo [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Schitt's Creek</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:47:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,422</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28270188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/myracingthoughts/pseuds/myracingthoughts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ted tries to surprise Alexis with a day full of holiday fun, but ends up spending the rest of the day in bed. </p><p>(Mostly) not in a fun way.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Theodore "Ted" Mullens/Alexis Rose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hallmark Holiday Movie Bingo [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035525</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Little Lumberjack</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/earnmysong/gifts">earnmysong</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the lovely @earnmysong! Thank you for the prompt 💜</p><p>This fic fulfills the 'Love interest comes to rescue by doing something manly' <a href="https://pasmonblog.tumblr.com/post/634579786258432002">Hallmark Holiday Movie Bingo</a> square.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    
  </p>
</div>“Ted?”<p>Alexis was stock still in the doorway of her Manhattan apartment, staring at the man looking right back at her. </p><p>She’d thought it was a delivery person at first —some of them refused to leave their packages at the front desk during the holiday season— definitely not her boyfriend. He was absolutely supposed to be somewhere much more tropical than this.</p><p>Was she hallucinating? Was this Ted, tanned and cheeks tinged red from the cold, some sort of weird, vivid dream leftover from the skeevy cheeses she might have been bingeing on the night before? </p><p>Which totally would have been <i>David</i>’s fault since he sent the platter over as an early Christmas gift since she was stuck in the city for work.</p><p>Seemingly reading her mind, Ted smiled and replied, “In the flesh.”</p><p>“What are you <i>doing</i> here??” Alexis squeaked, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a sloppy, excited kiss on his lips. Her brain was buzzing with questions and excitement. “How long are you here for?”</p><p>“Well, I’m only here for two days, so I thought we’d have a little mini Christmas together. Got it all planned out and everything,” Ted said, holding up a checklist and marked map on his phone for proof.</p><p>“Ted!” Alexis exclaimed, swatting his chest. “How long have you had this planned for? I just talked to you last night!”</p><p>Squeezing her hands in his, he replied, “Long enough. Any chance we can maybe move indoors now, though? This jacket is way too warm to wearing while the heat’s on.”</p><p>“Oh! Of course, of course,” Alexis chuckled, ushering him into her apartment. “Welcome to my humble abode.”</p><p>“It looks different than our video calls,” Ted mused, looking around at the modern art and sleek furniture as he stripped off his coat and tucked his luggage by the couch. “Where’s your tree?”</p><p>And looking around, he realized there wasn’t a single decoration <i>anywhere</i>— which was very unlike the normally festive Alexis Rose.</p><p>“Didn’t get one this year,” Alexis shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “It just didn’t feel very festive.”</p><p><i>Alone</i>, he’d bet was the next word she wanted to say but didn’t out loud. </p><p>He didn’t often see this side of her, the raw side that missed tradition and her family. That side that’d seemed to grow like a weed in Schitt’s Creek and make his stomach twist on their bubbly but not frequent enough video calls. But it was there, behind the sad smile and her excitement at him being there.</p><p>And he had every intention to snap her out of it before he left.</p><p>“Alexis, everyone deserves a tree. Even a little dinky Charlie Brown version.” Ted said, already swiping through his itinerary for them, marking off the nearest tree lot on their route.</p><p>“Well, maybe you can help me get in the Christmas spirit?” Alexis murmured, playing with the hem of her sweater as she stared up at him through her eyelashes.</p><p>“I’d be honoured.”</p>
<hr/><p>The afternoon was a whirlwind of cocoa and Christmas treats. </p><p>Ice skating had gone surprisingly well (once he’d managed to convince Alexis that renting skates was, in fact, not a big deal), and he could see the sparkle back in her eyes as they lunched at the foot of the massive Christmas tree at Rockefeller Centre. They’d picked up some ornaments and decorations along the way, passing by vendors and stalls of handmade gifts and goods.</p><p>The only thing left now was the tree.</p><p>Ted led her towards a little lot on their way back to her building, string lights just beginning to turn on as the sun dipped in the sky above them. </p><p>Alexis couldn’t help but sneak glances at him living his best little lumberjack life, dressed in plaid and speckled with unmelted snowflakes. She smiled as they wove their way through the trees, feeling for firm needles, judging leans and fullness as she held Ted close. </p><p>It still felt like a dream, him being here with her. Something she’d concocted after one too many Interflix binge-watches— purely for research, of course.</p><p>“This is it,” Ted breathed, looking proud of his find. “This is definitely the one.”</p><p>He deflated a little at Alexis’s perplexed expression, watching her brow furrow as she motioned towards it, “But it’s not blue.”</p><p>“It’s a blue spruce, Alexis.”</p><p>He knew better than to ask if she was kidding, watching the cogs whirring in her head.</p><p>“But it’s <i>green</i>.”</p><p>Ted let out a breathy chuckle, wondering when to cut into her thought process to clarify that trees weren’t titled by colour.</p><p>With a soft smile, Ted explained, “That’s just its name.”</p><p>Alexis seemed to give it one last inspection, pointer finger tapping her lips as she mulled it over.</p><p>She hummed, “OK, I guess it’s fine, but when do the cute little elves get here?”</p><p>Now it was Ted’s turn to be confused, brows knitting together at the question.</p><p>“Elves?”</p><p>She tsked like he’d missed some important detail, “To cut and carry the tree, silly. Oh, and then decorate it? Like those little birds in Cinderella.”</p><p>Ted looked speechless for a moment, face uncertain as he tried to figure out what part Alexis was joking about. And maybe another man would be annoyed or frustrated, but Ted was looking at her with nothing but adoration, picking out the rosy cheeks and cold-nipped nose as she looked expectantly at him.</p><p>“<i>I</i> am the elf, Alexis,” he replied, unable to hold back a grin.</p><p>“Oh.” And with one last look to size it (and Ted) up for the job, so smiled and added, “It’s perfect, then. Do you want me to go grab the man at the front to help—?”</p><p>“No, no. I’ve got this,” Ted assured, puffing his chest.</p><p>Some sort of stubborn male pride bubbled up to the surface as he bent down to pick up the tree. </p><p>“Are you <i>sure</i> you don’t need help carrying it back?”</p><p>With a grunt and groan, Alexis could only just hear the ‘no’ over the shifting foliage in his grasp. After all, he was an adult, and her place was only a few blocks away. </p><p>Ignoring the twinge in his lower back, he soldiered on. </p><p>To his credit, Ted didn’t complain the whole way back. Even if they had been stopped at six stoplights and one very exuberant busker who insisted on stopping them for a song.</p><p>But by the time they made it upstairs and Ted set it into the tree stand, Alexis could see something was wrong. </p><p>“Ted, are you alright? Did you hurt your back?”</p><p>“No,” Ted said in an unconvincing, strained tone. “Not at all. Totally fine.”</p><p>But the wince and the hiss that escaped him as he sunk into the couch gave him away.</p><p>“OK, maybe it hurts a little,” Ted admitted with a frown. “I’m sorry, Alexis, but I don’t know if I can help you with decorating.”</p><p>He deflated, worried he’d ruined what little time they had together for the holidays. But Alexis merely smiled, taking his jacket from him and laying one of her impossibly soft blankets over his legs.</p><p>“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. We’ll put on a movie, I’ll make you some hot cocoa, and you can critique my tree decorating abilities,” she singsonged, walking towards the kettle. “Which are impeccable, by the way.”</p><p>Ted chuckled, “I’m sure they’re perfect.”</p><p>It was hours later, after their cozy take-out meal and several boozy cups of eggnog, that they ended up cuddling in Alexis’s king bed, bundled under a mound of covers. </p><p>“I’m sorry we couldn’t have a night out like I planned,” Ted murmured into her hair, feeling her turn in his hold.</p><p>She framed his face with her hands, kissing his forehead before settling behind him to play with his hair. It was one of his favourite pastimes. </p><p>“No need to apologize. This was better than anything I could have done here alone in the city,” Alexis assured. “How’s your back feeling?”</p><p>“Not great,” Ted murmured, feeling her hands drift lower.</p><p>“Poor thing,” Alexis cooed. “Do you think a massage would help?”</p><p>Her fingers slipped under his t-shirt, hands working the knots between his shoulder blades and in his lower back. Eyebrows shooting to his hairline, Ted nodded furiously, unable to hold back a moan at the contact. His voice was a little more hoarse than he intended, a mischievous glimmer in Alexis’s eyes visible, even in the dim light.</p><p>“Yeah, I think that’s just what the doctor ordered.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much for reading. All comments, kudos and bookmarks are loved and cherished.</p><p>This fic was a prompt. You can find my <a href="https://pasmonblog.tumblr.com/post/635410523601649664">prompts list and details here</a> if you're interested in adding to my WIP list (please do).</p></blockquote></div></div>
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